title: Continuous cognitive improvement 1 year following successful kidney transplant.
abstract: Successful kidney transplantation was recently shown to lead to improvement in the cognitive performance of patients on chronic dialysis. To examine whether the early cognitive benefits of transplantation continue to develop over time, along with the patients' ongoing recovery, we addressed these questions in a prospective controlled study of 27 dialyzed patients who subsequently received a kidney transplant, 18 dialyzed patients awaiting kidney transplant, and 30 matched controls without kidney disease. Overall, successful kidney transplant contributed to a statistically significant improvement in performance on tests of motor/psychomotor speed, visual planning, memory, and abstract reasoning tested 1 year later. We also studied whether the cognitive performance of patients maintained on dialysis is stable or declines over time and found that it actually declined over this time even in adequately dialyzed patients. Measures of memory functions were particularly affected. This study indicates that the early beneficial effects of transplantation are not transient and were still evident 1 year following transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland. mharciarek@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harciarek
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Biedunkiewicz
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lichodziejewska-Niemierko
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dębska-Ślizień
authors.forename: Bolesław
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rutkowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011044:Poland; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome